Goethe is not everywhere: An Empirical Analysis of the Locational Decisions in the Foreign Cultural Policy

This article examines whether the locational decisions of the Goethe Institute follow the official mission to advance German culture or are rather influenced by competing societal interests. Our macro-quantitative evaluation shows clearly that the strife for power and economic considerations largely explain the world-wide presence of this organisation which plays a central role in the official German foreign cultural diplomacy. The Goethe Institute largely focuses its activities on economically developed and trade-oriented states. Almost no influence have, by contrast, development criteria and the human rights record of the host countries. The new decisions to close affiliate institutes are largely determined by the desire to minimize conflict since the reductions are largely undertaken in countries where the organisation is at the moment present with more than one institute. This reduction is at odds with the mission of the institute, not the least due to the fact that it should reduce its net in small countries rather than in some of the targeted states